Early retirement incentive in Saratoga County

As state workers line up to cash in on an early retirement incentive, Saratoga County officials are looking toward offering a similar incentive. This week, the Board of Supervisors scheduled a public hearing for 4:45 p.m. Aug. 11 to talk about the proposal.

There are 413 of the county’s 1,400 workers who are eligible for early retirement. The same offer in 2002 drew 12 percent of the workforce. County treasurer Sam Pitcheralle estimated about the same number – roughly 50 people – could be expected to retire this time around. If so, the county would save $300,000 in the next two years.

A survey went out to the eligible workers to gauge interest in early retirement. 172 responded with at least some interest in finding out more; 149 said they weren’t interested and 92 did not respond.

The one-time cost of the retirements would cost about $3.2 million in county contributions to the state retirement system. But at the same time, the county would save $3.6 million in payroll and associated costs.

The incentive has two parts. To be eligible for part A, you must be 50 years old and have 10 years of state retirement credit. The plan adds one month of service credit for each year of service of to 3 years. Par B is for workers 55 years old with 25 year of service. It removes the early retirement penalty for people age 55 to 62.

The plan is most beneficial to workers closing in on retirement age. As a rough example, Pitcheralle used a 53-year-old county employee with 15 years of service and a $50,000 salary. Even after the incentive, the state retirement calculus would give that person a yearly income of only $10,000 if he or she retired now. Retirement salary is based on an average of a workers’ top three years of salary.

4 Responses

They should retire the idiots who work for the Sheriff. These clowns had three vehicles at the county fair this week. Each had a barking dog in it. I thought it wasn’t a great idea to show off a hot dog in an overheated car, all the while polluting the air with the cars, running all day long. The deputy disagreed…he obviously doesn’t know why it’s not a good idea to show the public how to keep your dog in a sealed car in the summer.